Chapter Thirteen
Do Not Serve False Gods - Part Two
13:1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Chapter thirteen offers three different potential scenarios that could lead to serving false gods and what to do in response. The first one presents a person who claims to be a prophet or dreamer that receives dreams from God and then produces some form of seemingly authentic sign or wonder, which would set the stage for them to be misguided. Moses tells them that if he is suggesting something contrary to God’s law or serve other gods that they should not listen to the false prophet, as they are being tested by YHWH to know whether they love YHWH with all their heart and soul. This may sound like an odd statement as God is omniscient and already knows everyone’s heart. The ‘exercise’ is for their benefit and knowledge, not for God’s understanding. God uses testing to aid in maturing His people, helping them to grow closer to Him.[1] They are to always follow YHWH and obey His law and obey His voice. If a person is identified as being a false prophet, teaching to rebel against YHWH by promoting idol worship, they are to be put to death. The evil influence is to be permanently removed from their midst.
13:6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
Unlike the first scenario where one person attempted to openly deceive a large group, this second method focuses on the secret deception of close family members or friends. The same rules apply, they are to reject the teachings of anyone trying to persuade serving any false deity, regardless of who they are or where they come from. They too are to be killed, they were not to have pity on them, spare their lives, or hide them. They were to be stoned to death; first strike was to be done by them (the person or group of people that the deception was attempted) followed by the community. Later, when the news spread how a person was killed for their attempt to introduce idolatry to the people of Israel, people will fear doing the same thing, stopping the spread of wickedness among them.
13:12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.
The third and final scenario listed in this chapter reviews the procedure of what to do if they discover that one of their cities have been deceived and are currently serving other gods. The first step is to verify that it is true. Once convinced that the inhabitants have indeed committed such an abomination, they are to kill everyone and their livestock and then destroy the city with fire. The fire would serve as a burnt offering to YHWH. The city was to remain in ruins and never be built again. None of the devoted things (Hebrew ‘ḥē’·rěm’,[2] in this context refers to things that are devoted to destruction)[3] are to be kept by anyone, so that the anger of God will not come to them. By destroying the people, their possessions and their city, God will not punish the nation and will have mercy on them.
Considerations
If a person is unaware of God’s Word, or has only partial understanding, they could easily be fooled by a false prophet. That is why Moses often repeated the need for the people of Israel to learn God’s law and to teach it to their children. This is also true for Christians today, if they are unaware or have only a cursory understanding of the Bible, they can be misled by false teachers or false prophets. There is no substitution to learning and growing in the Word of God. Those that call themselves Christians are not all true followers of Jesus. Sadly, this has led to the existence of several denominations, each claiming to offer the true interpretation of Scripture. Often, through the promotion or use of some man-made document or unique interpretation, that interpretation is elevated above the Bible, which can lead people away from Jesus or render them effectively useless in His kingdom. We must remember that the only document that matters when it is time to enter heaven with Jesus, is the Bible. If you are not sure that what you believe is in the Bible, or you do not believe you have an adequate understanding of God’s Word, that problem can be remedied; start reading the Bible today. Understand there are no shortcuts or substitutes, ask God for guidance and discernment, He will answer (see James 1:5).
This chapter is a good example of why many of the Jews in Jesus’ time, and through to today, have rejected Jesus and His teachings. From their perspective they have been taught from an early age to obey God’s law and that anyone who came along and ‘violated’ that law and attempted to persuade them to follow a different god, was to be executed. This is exactly what happened to Jesus. But even though the Jews thought they were doing the right thing for the right reasons, just as it is commanded in this chapter (see also Deuteronomy 18:20-22), that was not the reason Jesus was put to death. As every Christian knows, His death was in fulfillment of God’s plan for all of mankind’s salvation. We are all responsible for His death as we are all sinners, and the penalty of sin is death. He came to die so that we can be forgiven and live with Him forever.
Since the Old Testament and especially the five books of Moses (the Torah) speak about the coming Messiah, both directly and indirectly (through models, types, etc.), some ask how could they mistake Jesus as a false prophet? There are several potential reasons, one could be the result of who and how they were taught, especially if protocol (ritual procedures) or man’s interpretation were elevated above God’s Word. Even though Jesus provided many signs and wonders as proof, He referred to Himself as the Messiah, He was considered to have ‘worked’ on Sabbath days, and He proclaimed that salvation was available to all, as well as several other perceived violations. If a person believed in the strict obedience to some element, such as the observance of the Sabbath, they would, without any other consideration (such as examine Scripture) reject the person and consider them to be a fraud.
This is not limited to just Jews or Judaism; it is interesting to note that this form of rejection or denial is common to every religion, thinking that when things are contrary to one’s beliefs they are frequently summarily dismissed as being wrong. This is acceptable if they are indeed wrong. But we need to understand that sincerely believing something to be true is often completely different than believing in the truth. There can only be one truth, it is absolute, not relative or flexible. For example, any pilot can tell you that being off by one degree can result in not reaching your destination.
Even though many of these perceived reasons could be considered intellectual barriers (see the book’s Preface), the Jewish people have also been temporarily ‘blinded’ from the truth. After Jesus was rejected by the majority of the Jews during His ministry, Jesus proclaimed over the city of Jerusalem: “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-42) Today, as more Jews hear and accept Jesus as their Messiah each year, it appears that the blindness is coming to an end.
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[1] See Considerations under Genesis 22:15-19 regarding testing.
[2] Strong’s Hebrew 2764.
[3] See commentary under Leviticus 27:28-29.